pISSN 1899-5241
eISSN 1899-5772 3(41) 2016, 273–281
dr inż. Izabela Cichocka, Katedra Metod Ilościowych w Ekonomii, Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Zarządzania, ul. Suchar-Abstract. Consumers are increasingly more interested in
the issues associated with high-quality food (organic food); consequently, the number of organic farms and commercial establishments which off er organic products with quality tifi cates is growing. Podkarpackie voivodeship, thanks to cer-tain advantages, is a favorable place for the development of organic farming. For the needs of this research, a survey was conducted in spring 2015 among 137 inhabitants of Rzeszów and the surrounding areas who declared to be consumers of organic food. An analysis of the results provides the conclu-sion that organic products are very positively evaluated by the respondents, since in their opinion they have a great im-pact on their health, which is the main reason for purchasing them. Sales and consumption growth of organic foods can be achieved by intensive advertising using the latest methods and techniques, as well as by educating society. These activities should be particularly targeted at the inhabitants of medium-sized towns, and a convincing argument should be made to draw attention to the ingredients in organic food.
Key words: organic agriculture, organic food, consumer,
preferences
INTRODUCTION
At the moment, ecological problems of the world are becoming more and more serious, which has an impact on shaping human health. Moreover, countries with a mature market economy have already started to pro-vide activities to the benefi t of the ecological ways of
the food production and a development of the eco-ag-riculture due to the numerous threats for quality of the environment (Żakowska-Biemans, 2011). The produc-tion of organic food has become one of the priorities in the European Union, what brings health benefi ts due to a value of the product and natural methods of its produc-tion (Piotrowska, 2014). These issues have also a prac-tical meaning for Poland, which has been realizing an idea of the sustainable socio-economic development for many years (Łukasiński, 2008).
An observable increase in the environmental pol-lution and ecological imbalance in the contemporary world becomes a more and more noticeable problem in many countries. The changes in food production consist in, among others, use of genetic engineering achieve-ments (GMO) in agriculture, an increasing intensity of food production in the agriculture and industry at the cost of its quality and health safety. As a result of this activity a depletion of landscape qualities of the natu-ral environment occurs, as well as destruction of sur-face and ground water, degradation and soil erosion and a threat to consumer’s health.
An alternative to the intensive farming and industrial food production methods is developing the ecological farming and traditional methods of the foodstuff man-ufacturing. They allow for obtaining lower crops, but of the highest quality, while ensuring a maximum pro-tection of the environment and health of the consumer. It positively aff ects fertility and quality of soil, a diver-sity of the landscape and a biodiverdiver-sity of organisms,
ORGANIC FOOD IN THE COMMERCIAL OFFER
AND CONSUMER PREFERENCES WHILE PURCHASING IT
Izabela Cichocka
, Jan Krupa, Anastasiya Shypot
and fi rst of all, health and life quality of people and farm animals (Kwasek, 2013).
Knowledge of the society within the scope of the or-ganic farming is constantly extended, an interest in the high-quality food increases with a growing number of the organic farms and commercial establishments which off er organic products with a quality certifi cate. Recent-ly organic food has gained a popularity among people who take care about their own health and health of their closest persons (Zrałek, 2010; Grzybowska-Brzezińska, 2011). The products of this type are characterized by a high organoleptic quality and nutritional value, what is the primary motive of purchasing them. Achieving very good quality is possible due to the harmoniously balanced ingredients of the products, a lack of foreign impurities, using ecological methods of processing and not applying genetically modifi ed material (GMO). The method of manufacturing of organic products is not a threat for the environment, but it is favourable to the concept of sustainable development (Sokołowska, 2005).
The Podkarpackie voivodeship is a good place for the development of organic farming due to its natural and social characteristics, based on the use of the rights governing the nature, without using chemical fertilizers and chemical plant protection measures (Romankiewicz and Krupa, 2012). It is of a particular importance in the protected, naturally valuable areas, which constitute a large part of the voivodeship area and highlight its unique attractiveness. It is due to the fact that almost half of the voivodeship is included into the nature pro-tection in its various forms. As a consequence, it has been considered as a region of a rather balanced devel-opment of the organic farming, and its share of the eco-logical arable lands belongs to one of the highest in the country (Szarek and Nowogródzka, 2015).
The aim of the undertaken research was a determi-nation to what extent the inhabitants of the town and visitors are interested in purchasing ecological prod-ucts and what are the main reasons of their decisions. An analysis of the eco-production market in the Pod-karpackie voivodeship may have important implications for food manufacturers and food processing plants in order to match a supply and a demand on the organic food market. A need to stimulate a demand among food consumers is indicated in Siedlecka (2014) and Smoluk--Sidorska’s (2010) studies.
RESEARCH METHODS AND MATERIALS, ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
The study was based on the survey conducted among customers of the specialized stores which off ered organ-ic food in spring 2015.
The survey was related to the issues connected with organic food – a consumption frequency, factors which determine this consumption, as well as an identifi ca-tion of trends occurring on the market of organic foods. The survey involved 137 people, i.e. the inhabitants of Rzeszów and the surrounding area. The characteristics of the study population was presented in Table 1.
The largest group of respondents were women (73%), in addition persons aged 20–30 years (39.4%), living in towns with more than 100 thousands inhabit-ants (41.6%), specifying their fi nancial situation as good (51.1%).
The respondents were asked questions, among oth-ers, what is organic food, how does it diff er from con-ventional food, as well as, questions about a frequency and reasons of its consumption, purchase places and factors determining organic food purchase.
The answers to the survey questions were collated with selected socio-economic features (using a chi--squared test of independence, if possible). Pearson’s chi-squared test of independence was used in the anal-ysis of the survey. The hypothesis of the feature inde-pendence was rejected when a calculated value of the test statistics exceeded a critical value for the accepted level of signifi cance (α = 0.05). The values of the chi--squared test of independence are presented in the Table 2. As it results from the data in the Table 2, a frequency of the purchases of organic food depends on the age, a marital status, a place of residence and does not de-pend on the fi nancial situation/status.
Among the given products, purchasing of organic eggs is related to the age of the respondents; purchas-ing herbs and honey is associated with a marital status, while buying organic dairy products and fruits depends on the place of residence of the researched persons.
In the case of other product categories no signifi cant dependencies were reported. The place of purchasing of organic products depends on the age and place of res-idence of the respondents, while an estimation of the store number off ering organic food is related to the place of residence. The ingredients of organic products consti-tute a factor by the respondents are guided depending on
a place where they live; whereas the nutritional value of ecological products is of no importance. In general, mo-tivations supporting purchasing of organic food depend also on the age and a marital status. Monthly expendi-tures on organic food are not determined by any socio-economic variables.
For these variables, which are determined by one so-cio-economic factor, in the further stage of the analysis a quotient of the observed and expected numbers was used to show these categories of variables that predes-tine a statistical signifi cance of the relationship. Table 3
summarizes a percentage ratio between the observed and expected numbers for the category of the socio-economic features and variables with regard to the is-sue of organic food at the statistically signifi cant values of Pearson’s chi-squared test of independence (for one factor).
An opinion about the number of the commercial es-tablishments where one can obtain organic food depends on the respondents’ place of residence. Persons living in the villages much more often considered that the number of such stores is too small (observed number is 117.7%
Table 1. Characteristics of respondents Tabela 1. Charakterystyka respondentów
Socio-economic feature Cecha społeczno-ekonomiczna
Population size
Liczebność %
Sex – Płeć Female – Kobieta 100 73.0
Male – Mężczyzna 37 27.0
Age – Wiek 20–30 years old
20–30 lat 54 39.4 31–40 years old 31–40 lat 35 25.5 41–50 years old 41–50 lat 14 10.1
51 years old and more 51 lat i więcej 33 24.0 Place of Residence Miejsce zamieszkania Village Wieś 33 24.0
Town up to 50 thousand inhabitants Miasto do 50 tys. mieszkańców
28 20.4
Town 50–100 thousand inhabitants Miasto 50–100 tys. mieszkańców
18 13.0
Town above 100 thousand inhabitants Miasto powyżej 100 tys. mieszkańców
57 41.6
Marital status Stan cywilny
Married – Zamężna/żonaty 69 50.4
Single – Stanu wolnego 68 49.6
Financial status Sytuacja materialna
Very good – Bardzo dobra 4 2.9
Good – Dobra 70 51.1
Average – Przeciętna 57 41.6
Bad – Zła 6 4.4
Source: own elaboration. Źródło: opracowanie własne.
Table 2. Values of chi-square test of independence
Tabela 2. Wartości statystyki testu niezależności (chi-kwadrat)
Indicator Wskaźnik Age Wiek Place of residence Miejsce zamieszkania Marital status Stan cywilny Financial situation Sytuacja materialna Purchase frequency of organic food
Częstotliwość zakupu żywności ekologicznej
22.490* 14.735* 8.085* 1.825
Organic food – breadstuff Żywność ekologiczna – pieczywo
5.316 1.082 0.652 1.812
Organic food – vegetables Żywność ekologiczna – warzywa
0.213 0.737 0.091 1.086
Organic food – herbs Żywność ekologiczna – zioła
4.172 4.815 4.339* 0.826
Organic food – dairy products Żywność ekologiczna – nabiał
1.078 7.636* 0.501 1.843
Organic food – fruits
Żywność ekologiczna – owoce
3.322 9.208* 1.426 0.007
Organic food – tea
Żywność ekologiczna – herbata
0.901 0.319 0.689 0.175
Organic food – eggs Żywność ekologiczna – jaja
10.855* 2.977 0.003 0.319
Organic food – juices Żywność ekologiczna – soki
1.612 4.773 0.555 0.378
Organic food – oils
Żywność ekologiczna – oleje
2.760 5.044 0.419 0.426
Organic food – meat
Żywność ekologiczna – mięso
3.117 0.704 0.023 0.222
Organic food – cereals
Żywność ekologiczna – produkty zbożowe
2.896 4.166 0.453 0.070
Organic food – honey Żywność ekologiczna – miód
3.468 1.829 4.270* 1.210
Grocery as a place of a purchase of organic food Sklep jako miejsce zakupu żywności ekologicznej
13.443* 12.601* 3.328 0.815
Number of stores with organic food products Liczba placówek z żywnością ekologiczną
2.670 19.872* 4.675 5.317
Nutritional value as a factor of organic food purchasing Wartość odżywcza jako czynnik zakupu żywności ekologicznej
3.579 1.375 1.257 1.921
Ingredients as a factor of organic food purchasing Składniki jako czynnik zakupu żywności ekologicznej
3.566 7.843* 0.177 0.137
Reasons of organic food purchasing Motyw zakupu żywności ekologicznej
11.485* 5.379 17.837* 0.572
Amount spent on organic food
Kwota wydawana na zakup żywności ekologicznej
6.754 1.872 2.555 1.394
Symbol * means statistically signifi cant value of chi-squared at the signifi cance level of 0.05. Source: own elaboration.
Symbol * oznacza statystycznie istotną wartość chi-kwadrat przy poziomie istotności 0,05. Źródło: opracowanie własne.
of the expected number). The opinions of persons from small towns (with a population up to 50 thousands) var-ied. A signifi cant proportion of those respondents thinks that there is the suffi cient number of stores selling or-ganic food, and has no opinion on this subject (observed number is respectively of 186.8% and 121.4% of the expected number). Similarly, a signifi cant proportion of the respondents living in medium-sized towns (50–100 thousands of inhabitants) has no opinion on whether the number of stores is suffi cient (observed number is of 125.9% of the expected one). Only residents of large towns (with a population above 100 thousands of inhab-itants) acknowledge that the number of the commercial establishments of this type is too small (observed num-ber is of 131.5% of the expected numnum-ber).
The organic food ingredients are a key reason for buying these products mainly for persons from villages and small towns, with a population up to 50 thousands of inhabitants (observed number is of 115.9 and 121.8% of the expected number).
For the variables determined by more than one socio-economic feature, was used a multiple correspondence analysis (for statistically signifi cant values of chi-square). Correspondence analysis is a technique, that gives in-formation about the structure of connections between the columns and rows of a contingency table. Analysis of statistics and graphs – possible in this method – al-lows simple and intuitive inference about the relations
occurring between categories of variables. With regard to the observed characteristics, correspondence analysis was executed to identify and assess a co-occurrence of respondent segments highlighted due to the age, a place of residence and a marital status and categories of tested variables, and allowed for a graphical presentation of the relationship between socio-economic factors and catego-ries of variables with regard to organic food.
On Figures 1–4, relations between socio-economic factors and categories of variables concerning organic food were graphically presented, obtained from using correspondence analysis.
The connections between categories of the socio-economic features and a frequency of the consumption of organic food are shown in Figure 1.
According to the data presented in Figure 1, one can say that the intermittent consumption of organic food is declared by persons living in villages and small towns, with population up to 50 thousand people. The persons over 51 years old, living in large towns with a population exceeding 100 thousand people, consume organic food once a week, and married persons aged 41–50 years old consume organic products several times a week.
Figure 2 shows a co-occurrence of the socio-eco-nomic features and a store as a place of purchasing or-ganic food.
As results from a proximity of features of the fea-tures presented in Figure 2, the organic food store is the
Table 3. Relations between observed and expected population sizes for chi-square test of independence Tabela 3. Relacje między liczebnościami obserwowanymi i oczekiwanymi w teście niezależności chi-kwadrat
Place of residence Miejsce zamieszkania
Number of stores off ering organic food
Liczba placówek sprzedaży żywności ekologicznej Food ingredients Składniki żywności Enough Wystarczająca Too little Zbyt mała I don’t know Nie wiem Village Wieś 95.1% 117.7% 89.3% 121.8% Town up to 50 thousands Miasto do 50 tys. 186.8% 19.8% 121.4% 115.9% Town up to 50–100 thousands Miasto 50–100 tys. 58.1% 92.5% 125.9% 85.9% Town > 100 thousands Miasto > 100 tys. 73.4% 131.5% 87.5% 84.1%
Source: own elaboration. Źródło: opracowanie własne.
place to purchase it, especially for persons over the age of 51 years, living in the towns with a population above 100 thousands. Such a store is not the place where or-ganic food is bought by the youngest respondents, aged
20–30 years, living in the villages and in the towns with a population not exceeding 50 thousands inhabitants.
Figure 3 shows a co-occurrence of the socio-econom-ic features and reasons of the organsocio-econom-ic food consumption.
41–50 years old 41–50 lat
a few times per week kilka razy w tygodniu village ZLHĞ town up to 50 thous. miasto do 50 tys. intermittently sporadycznie married ĪRQDW\ PĊĪDWND on a regular basis regularnie 20–30 years old 20–30 lat single wolny town > 100 thous. miasto > 100 tys. once per week
raz w tygodniu 51 years and overODWLZLĊFHM town 50–100 thous. miasto 50–100 tys. –1.5 –1 –0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 –1.5 –1 –0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 Dimension 1 Wymiar 1 Dimension 2 Wymiar 2
Fig. 1. Confi guration of the respondent segments and a consumption frequency of organic
food
Source: own elaboration.
Rys. 1. Konfi guracja segmentów respondentów oraz częstotliwości spożywania żywności
ekologicznej
Źródło: opracowanie własne.
31–40 years old 31–40 lat village ZLHĞ no purchase nie kupuje town > 100 thous. miasto > 100 tys. purchase kupuje 20–30 years old 20–30 lat
51 years and over ODWLZLĊFHM 41–50 years old 41–50 lat town 50–100 thous. miasto 50–100 tys. –2 –1.5 –1 –0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 –1.5 –1 –0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 Dimension 2 Wymiar 2 Dimension 1 Wymiar 1
Fig. 2. Confi guration of the respondent segments and a store as a purchasing place of the
organic food
Source: own elaboration.
Rys. 2. Konfi guracja segmentów respondentów oraz sklepu jako miejsca nabywania
żyw-ności ekologicznej
The confi guration of the points presented in Figure 3 authorizes to state that taking care about one’s own health is the reason for consumption of organic food of the single persons who are under the age of 30 years old. The surveyed married persons over 30 years old
indicated taking care about the closest persons as a mo-tive of the organic food consumption.
Figure 4 presents the co-occurrence of categories of the socio-economic features and categories of the pur-chased organic products.
31–40 years old 31–40 lat 41–50 years old 41–50 lat 20–30 years old 20–30 lat own health ZáDVQH]GURZLH
health of the closest persons ]GURZLHQDMEOLĪV]\FK VLQJOH
wolny PDUULHG
ĪRQDW\ PĊĪDWND
51 years and over ODWLZLĊFHM HQYLURQPHQWDOSURWHFWLRQ RFKURQDĞURGRZLVND –6 –5 –4 –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 –1 –0.5 0 0.5 1.5 'LPHQVLRQ :\PLDU 'LPHQVLRQ :\PLDU
Fig. 3. Confi guration of the respondent segments and reasons for the organic food
consumption
Source: own elaboration.
Rys. 3. Konfi guracja segmentów respondentów oraz motywów konsumpcji żywności
ekologicznej
Źródło: opracowanie własne.
town 50–100 thous. miasto 50–100 tys.
eggs – yes
jaja – tak- town > 100 thous.miasto > 100 tys. 31–40 years old
31–40 lat herbs – yes
]LRáD±WDN fruit – no
owoce – nie 51 years and overODWLZLĊFHM single
wolny 20–30 years old 20–30 lat married ĪRQDW\ PĊĪDWND dairy products – no QDELDá±QLH honey – yes miód – tak town up to 50 thous. miasto do do 50 tys. 41–50 years old 41–50 lat fruit – yes owoce – tak village ZLHĞ herbs – yes ]LRáD±WDN –1 –0.5 0.5 1 –1 –0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 Dimension 2 Wymiar 2 Dimension 1 Wymiar 1
Fig. 4. Confi guration of the respondent segments and categories of the purchased organic
products
Source: own elaboration.
Rys. 4. Konfi guracja segmentów respondentów oraz kategorii nabywanych produktów
ekologicznych
The confi guration of the points presented in Figure 4 reveals the fact that the respondents from the towns with a population about 50–100 thousand inhabitants mostly purchase eggs in the organic food stores. In turn, these stores are the place of purchasing honey in the case of married persons, and those aged 41–50 years-the place to purchase herbs. On the other hand, village residents purchase fruit in the organic food stores what can be hardly understandable.
The following observations can be made on the basis of the conducted research:
● Organic food is becoming more and more appreci-ated by Polish consumers, especially among people with higher incomes, and secondary and higher education;
● Organic products are assessed very positively by the respondents since in their opinion such products have a big impact on the health, what is the main motive for purchasing them. While the fact that organic farming contributes to the protection of the environment and the conservation of biodiversity, it is kind of secondary mo-tive for buying organic food;
● The most common way to acquire organic food is buying it in the specialized stores;
● The increase in the sales and consumption of or-ganic food is possible by providing an intensive pro-motion, using modern methods and techniques, and the environmental education of the society. These actions should be especially targeted at the inhabitants of the medium size towns, and a convincing argument may be paying attention to the ingredients of organic food products.
SUMMARY
Nowadays it is not possible to shape a consumption model, which will consider only the nutritional aspects and health safety. Condition and safety of the environ-ment in which we live, and in which food is produced and processed are also important. Therefore, not notic-ing a connection which exists between the quality of our food and the quality of the environment will lead (and has already led) to adverse changes in the environment, which will worsen the food quality and the condition of human health.
The EU food quality policy is focused on the pro-motion and protection of the originality of the products, which are characterized by strict determination of the
environmental performance of the product. A growing demand for natural products of the high quality like or-ganic or traditional foodstuff provides an opportunity for the Polish agriculture, mainly caused by the increase in the knowledge and awareness of consumers within a scope of the risks resulting from the application of the industrial methods for the growing crops or animal hus-bandry. An alternative to the industrial, highly processed food is organic food, a production of which respects the environment and reduces the risk of health hazards re-sulting from the toxic pollution of the agricultural raw materials and processed products.
After an accession of Poland to the European Union, new challenges and opportunities of the development have appeared, but in order to be able to take advantage of this, there is need to understand determinants of the consumer behavior related to the food market (Krupa, 2010). The society is aware of the benefi ts of eating or-ganic food, but it does not infl uence the volume of the demand. The reason for this is a problem of the price of organic products. Poland does not belong to the coun-tries which dominate in the organic agricultural produc-tion, whereas it has a great potential for this method of food production, used to a law extent. This potential is mainly due to the agricultural traditions, large labour force resources in the rural areas, especially in the fam-ily farms, a purity of the environment, including soil, a landscape diversity, an increasing environmental awareness of consumers and still unexploited opportu-nities of exporting the Polish processed agri-food prod-ucts (Romankiewicz and Krupa, 2012).
The positive phenomenon is an increase in the popularity of organic food, together with an increase in the number of commercial establishments that off er this kind of products. However, the public knowledge related to organic products and the basic methods of its manufacturing is still at the low level, as well as the knowledge about healthy eating. The organic food consumers in Rzeszów the most often purchase prod-ucts in the specialized stores, which off er is more var-ied than in the remaining commercial establishments off ering eco-food. There is no apparent relationship between a place of residence and a place of buying or-ganic products since in each group a tendency to buy them in the specialized stores was noticed. Most peo-ple buy organic food intermittently and at the occasion, but there is a group of customers, who make purchases on a regular basis.
The market of organic products is promising and there are opportunities to increase their share in the Polish foodstuff market. There is, however, a need for providing a continuous promotion of organic farm-ing, using more modern and more interesting methods of the transmission to reach more and more customers and increase their awareness in this subject matter. V ast majority of consumers believe that the best methods of promotion are organized fairs of organic products, and placing advertisements in the media.
REFERENCES
Grzybowska-Brzezińska, M. (2011). Świadomość ekolo-giczna konsumentów a ich zachowania na rynku żyw-ności. Stud. Proceed. Pol. Assoc. Knowl. Manag., 51, 242–253.
Krupa, J. (2010). Determinanty zachowań konsumentów na rynku żywności ekologicznej w aspekcie ochrony środo-wiska. In: J. R. Rak (Ed.), Walory ekologiczne i turys-tyczne północnej części Euroregionu Karpackiego (p. 327– 340). Brzozów: Wydawnictwo Muzeum Regionalnego w Brzozowie.
Kwasek, M. (Ed.). (2013). Z badań nad rolnictwem społecz-nie zrównoważonym. Żywność ekologiczna – regulacje prawne, system kontroli i certyfi kacji. Warszawa: IERiGŻ – PIB.
Łukasiński, W. (2008). Zarządzanie jakością produktu ekolo-gicznego. Żywn. Nauka Technol. Jakość, 1 (56), 146–153.
Piotrowska, A. (2014). Wybrane aspekty zachowań konsu-mentów na rynku żywności ekologicznej, Rocz. Nauk. SERiA, XVI (6), 393–396.
Romankiewicz, B., Krupa, J. (2012). Stan i perspektywy rozwoju rolnictwa ekologicznego w województwie pod-karpackim. In: J. Krupa, T. Soliński (Ed.), Ochrona śro-dowiska w aspekcie zrównoważonego rozwoju społecz-no-gospodarczego Podgórza Dynowskiego (p. 171–180). Dynów: Wyd. Związek Gmin Turystycznych Pogórza Dynowskiego.
Siedlecka, A. (2014). Wybrane zagadnienia marketingu żyw-ności ekologicznej w gospodarstwach rolnych wojewódz-twa lubelskiego. J. Agribus. Rural Dev., 3(33), 229–240. Smoluk-Sidorska, J. (2010). Stan rolnictwa ekologicznego
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Sokołowska, J., (2005). O ekologicznym produkcie spo-żywczym i jego marketingu. Gliwice: Polski Klub Ekologiczny.
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Zrałek, J. (2010). Czynniki motywujące konsumentów do za-kupu ekologicznej żywności – wyniki badań bezpośred-nich. In: J. Perenc (Ed.), Tendencje zachowań konsumenc-kich na regionalnym rynku (p. 391–400). Szczecin: Wyd. Nauk. Uniw. Szczec.
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ŻYWNOŚĆ EKOLOGICZNA W OFERCIE HANDLOWEJ I PREFERENCJE
KONSUMENCKIE PRZY JEJ ZAKUPIE
Streszczenie. Wśród konsumentów wzrasta zainteresowanie problematyką żywności wysokiej jakości (żywności
ekologicz-nej). Zwiększa się zatem liczba gospodarstw ekologicznych i placówek handlowych oferujących ekoprodukty z certyfi katem jakości. Województwo podkarpackie, ze względu na swoje walory, stanowi dobre miejsce dla rozwoju rolnictwa ekologicznego. Na potrzeby niniejszego opracowania przeprowadzono badania ankietowe wśród mieszkańców Rzeszowa i okolic deklarują-cych spożywanie żywności ekologicznej. Analiza wyników badań upoważnia do stwierdzenia, iż produkty ekologiczne ocenia-ne są przez respondentów bardzo pozytywnie, gdyż w ich opinii mają duży wpływ na zdrowie, co jest głównym motywem ich zakupu. Wzrost sprzedaży i spożycia żywności ekologicznej jest możliwy dzięki prowadzeniu intensywnej promocji, z wyko-rzystaniem nowoczesnych metod i technik oraz edukacji ekologicznej społeczeństwa. Działania te należy kierować szczególnie do mieszkańców miast średniej wielkości, a przekonującym argumentem może być zwrócenie uwagi na składniki żywności ekologicznej.
Słowa kluczowe: rolnictwo ekologiczne, żywność ekologiczna, konsument, preferencje
